58 research outputs found
Gender Differences in Russian Colour Naming
In the present study we explored Russian colour naming in a web-based psycholinguistic experiment
(http://www.colournaming.com). Colour singletons representing the Munsell Color Solid (N=600 in total) were presented on a computer monitor and named using an unconstrained colour-naming method. Respondents were
Russian speakers (N=713). For gender-split equal-size samples (NF=333, NM=333) we estimated and compared (i)
location of centroids of 12 Russian basic colour terms (BCTs); (ii) the number of words in colour descriptors; (iii) occurrences of BCTs most frequent non-BCTs. We found a close correspondence between females’ and males’
BCT centroids. Among individual BCTs, the highest inter-gender agreement was for seryj ‘grey’ and goluboj
‘light blue’, while the lowest was for sinij ‘dark blue’ and krasnyj ‘red’. Females revealed a significantly richer repertory of distinct colour descriptors, with great variety of monolexemic non-BCTs and “fancy” colour names; in comparison, males offered relatively more BCTs or their compounds. Along with these measures, we gauged
denotata of most frequent CTs, reflected by linguistic segmentation of colour space, by employing a synthetic
observer trained by gender-specific responses. This psycholinguistic representation revealed females’ more
refined linguistic segmentation, compared to males, with higher linguistic density predominantly along the redgreen axis of colour space
Lysyl hydroxylase 3 localizes to epidermal basement membrane and Is reduced in patients with Recessive Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa
Recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB) is caused by mutations in COL7A1 resulting in reduced or absent type VII collagen, aberrant anchoring fibril formation and subsequent dermal-epidermal fragility. Here, we identify a significant decrease in PLOD3 expression and its encoded protein, the collagen modifying enzyme lysyl hydroxylase 3 (LH3), in RDEB. We show abundant LH3 localising to the basement membrane in normal skin which is severely depleted in RDEB patient skin. We demonstrate expression is in-part regulated by endogenous type VII collagen and that, in agreement with previous studies, even small reductions in LH3 expression lead to significantly less secreted LH3 protein. Exogenous type VII collagen did not alter LH3 expression in cultured RDEB keratinocytes and we show that RDEB patients receiving bone marrow transplantation who demonstrate significant increase in type VII collagen do not show increased levels of LH3 at the basement membrane. Our data report a direct link between LH3 and endogenous type VII collagen expression concluding that reduction of LH3 at the basement membrane in patients with RDEB will likely have significant implications for disease progression and therapeutic intervention
Mechanical testing of a device for subcutaneous internal anterior pelvic ring fixation versus external pelvic ring fixation
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